The idle ramblings of a devoted space and science fiction nut who also happens to write.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

iOS 4.0 First Looks

I had the unfortunate experience of actually falling for the iOS 4.0 update this morning. Released to great fanfare by Apple and supposedly compatible with my lowly iPhone 3Gs, the update has a number of glitches that I am extremely annoyed with.

Starting off, the update download took forever. Or it seemed like it did. Maybe that is because Apple just shoved it out to everyone at the same time, totally slamming their own servers. This seems like a plan of idiocy. Apple had advertised that the update was going to be on the 21st. For us here in Japan, the 21st came and went.

While the total update of my iPhone including download took about an hour, it seemed to take an extraordinary amount of time just to do the initial copy of the iOS 4.0 to the iPhone unit.

Now that the machine is updated, I am still not seeing what all the hoopla about new features is. I found myself playing one of my favorite time passing games and suddenly the browser started up and my game kept going in the back ground. It seems that the browser starts up without the usual tapping of browser link or an ad which would normally open it. I have had this happen on several occasions today and have been less than pleased.

Also, there seems to be a glitch that makes applications skip a beat. I only noticed it because it happened in the middle of a continuous screen game. Whether this is related to the new multitasking features of the phone or not, I am not sure but it would seem like the most likely culprit.

The cool screen updates, really are quite atrocious at best. Yes, you can change the background shot but I am not feeling it. The new default makes everything hard to see. Who ever created the color scheme should be fired for being the most annoying graphic artist in the world. (and for being color blind)

I still have yet to have figured out how to create the so called folders which Apple has hyped to no ends. It is not readily obvious in either iTunes or on the unit so i have basically given up on that feature until I find the instructions. (So much for the adage that we all ready know how to use the iPhone.)

One of the most inexplicable features of the new OS is the so called exact location services. I noticed that my navigation software which before the update was off by 1/4 mile is now off by almost a mile of my location. I am sure Apple will try to say it is the software developers fault, however, it is interesting that it mostly worked before the update and now is so bloody slow that I cant even use the navigation software for any actual navigation. The maps now take about 10 times as long to load. One other not so cool feature is the fact that on the navigation software, my location changes by almost 2 miles with me sitting at my desk writing this review!

Funniest of all was the fact that Google maps asked to use my location and then couldn't even activate the maps within the app. So much for the usefulness of the Google maps application.

Initially, I figured I must have done something wrong with the setup of my iPhone or that I had missed something. Then I started reading online and found that it was no phenomena, but instead seems more like a firestorm of criticism that is not limited to any particular section of the world.

For the amount of hype that went into this update, perhaps Apple should have put far more effort into solving the issues with the OS before they shoved it out to the world. Sadly, this is the first real OS issues I have had with Apple related products and it does not make me happy to write this. But alas, it must be said quite frankly this time around. "Fix the darned iOS Apple!!!" And yes, you can print that I said that!